Lamenting the list: a partial test of Sherman’s defiance theory as applied to female sex offenders

Through the community notification and sex offender registry laws that have been passed, the USA has created a strict legal environment that requires sex offenders to remain in compliance with the registry requirements placed on them by the state once they are released back into their communities. A variety of unintended consequences, such as unemployment and housing issues, have resulted from these laws and have the potential to impact the reentry efforts of released sex offenders. Using Sherman’s defiance theory as a theoretical lens, the current study examines the experiences of registered female sex offenders living in Florida. One hundred and six registered female sex offenders were surveyed to examine their experiences while on the registry, and whether those events influence feelings of defiance toward the registry and criminal justice systems. Results suggest that these offenders indeed experience unintended consequences due to their registration status, which in turn shows support for the four canonical elements of Sherman’s theory by inferring that these women feel unjustly punished and stigmatized. Research findings, policy implications, and limitations are discussed.     

The effectiveness of relapse prevention training in a group of incarcerated child molesters

Abstract

A sample of child molesters participating in the U.K. prison sex offender treatment programme (SOTP) were required to complete a relapse prevention questionnaire before and after treatment. Results indicated that there were significant improvements in both awareness of risk situations and coping strategies, as measured by this instrument, through treatment. Nine months after the end of treatment most agreed to complete the questionnaire again. Those who had shown significant changes in terms of reduction of pro-offending attitudes through treatment maintained their RP skills. Men whose attitudes had not changed, although evidencing good RP skills at the end of treatment, were found to have lost these. This was most noticeable among men who had been released into the community and who had undergone a relatively short amount of therapy on the original SOTP (80 hours). These results indicate that RP training is only really useful where individuals have genuinely changed through treatment; and that the RP training should only be undertaken as part of an extensive treatment programme covering all areas of offending behaviour.     

Geographical profiling in a novel context: prioritising the search for New Zealand sex offfenders

The present work explores the utility and value of geographical offender profiling methodologies within a novel context, considering both theoretical and practical issues relating to their application. The effectiveness of a well-known geographical profiling system, Dragnet, was tested across 101 New Zealand sex offence series, and findings compared with those derived for an equivalent sample from the UK. Average search costs (the amount of the total offence area that needed to be searched, starting from predicted offender home location, before the offender's actual home was reached) were far greater for the New Zealand sample than their UK offending counterparts. It is argued that this is because the spatial behaviour of New Zealand offenders violates many of the assumptions that Dragnet and other similar geographical profiling systems make in predicting offenders' home locations. Calibration of the system to the specific home-crime distance patterns of the New Zealand offenders did not enhance the efficacy of predictions made to a significant extent. It is consequently argued that, in their current form, geographical profiling systems are limited in their ability to account for samples displaying very different spatial characteristics to those that they were developed from and for. The implications of these findings for the general utility of geographical profiling are discussed, and ways in which systems might be developed in order to broaden their scope and applicability are suggested.     

Sex offenders’ perceptions of the effectiveness and fairness of humanity,dominance, and displaying an understanding of cognitive distortions in police interviews: A vignette study

Abstract

Forty-three convicted sex offenders read each of four different offence vignettes that involved a man forcing a female victim into sex and the offender's subsequent police interview. The experimental manipulation involved giving participants each of four different scenarios concerning how the police interviewed the offender. These were interviews characterized by humanity, dominance, displaying an understanding of sex offenders’ cognitive distortions, or a neutral, control interview. Participants were required to rate the interviews on a variety of dimensions, such as the offender's likelihood of confessing, and the fairness of the interview. Where participants were told the man had been interviewed with humanity and compassion, they rated the offender as more likely to confess and rated the interview as fairer than the other conditions. In contrast, participants rated the offender interviewed with a dominant approach as less likely to confess, and for this procedure to be less fair than the other conditions. Displaying an understanding of sex offenders’ cognitive distortions appeared to have had no influence on perceived likelihood of confessions but was perceived to make the crime appear less serious.     

Sex trafficking in Latin America: dominant discourse,empirical paucity,and promising research

Much has been written in the English-speaking world on the topic of sex trafficking, but little is known about what researchers elsewhere have produced on this topic. An exhaustive literature search was conducted to locate publications on this topic from Latin America. A total of 74 publications were located and put through a systematic content analysis. Four main discernible patterns were noticed: (1) the vast majority of the publications were produced by individuals affiliated with international or non-government organisations; (2) the production of trafficking-related literature sharply declined after 2007; (3) of the small number of studies involving empirical data, most were qualitative in nature; and (4) the literature was primarily focused on the sexual exploitation of children. The discourse on sex trafficking in Latin America appeared to be dominated by advocacy groups. There were few scholarly articles, suggesting limited attention from the academic community. Despite limited empirical data, many Spanish-speaking authors made claims on the nature and extent of sex trafficking, with articles citing one another as source of evidence. This review finds a great need for the involvement of the academic community and for dispassionate and empirically grounded research on sex trafficking.     

Beyond the ‘Natasha’ story – a review and critique of current research on sex trafficking

A review of literature on sex trafficking since 2000 reveals that numerous articles have been published in scholarly journals but few are based on systematic primary data collection. Much of our current knowledge, including statistical estimates and characteristics of the trafficking business, derives from a handful reports issued by government and non-government agencies. With few empirical studies available, imagination seems to have filled the gaps of our knowledge. The problem was further complicated by a manifest (sometimes subtle) moral crusading agenda aimed at a deep-rooted and hotly debated social practice.

Also noticeable in the literature is an increasing number of authors who have begun to challenge the empirical premises claimed by these published reports. These sceptical authors find that many articles of questionable quality have been published in peer-reviewed journals, and claim that the current discourse on human trafficking is driven by mythology rather than empirical research.

Rather than dwelling on gaps in our knowledge or concerns over the moral overtone in academic research, this paper seeks to raise specific research questions and explore possible field strategies that can advance our knowledge on this topic. Regardless of one's moral compass, the future of research on sex trafficking cannot become credible without a solid empirical foundation.     

Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing for offence-related trauma in a mentally disordered sexual offender

Abstract

Research demonstrates a high incidence of offence-related trauma in mentally disordered offenders convicted of violent and sexual offences. The adaptive information processing (AIP) model offers a theoretical framework for understanding the hypothesised relationship between offence-related trauma and reoffending. Evidence suggests that for a sub-population of offenders presenting with offence-related trauma: (1) therapy may retraumatise them, and (2) unresolved trauma severely blocks the positive benefits of talking therapies. Thus, it is postulated that traumatised violent and sexual offenders may be released into the community when they are still at risk of reoffending. A single case study is presented, which describes the application of eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) for a sexual offender presenting with offence-related trauma, whose offences occurred in the context of serious mental disorder. The identification of offence-related trauma and subsequent resolution of trauma symptomatology are discussed in regard to effective offender rehabilitation. Furthermore, the idiosyncratic nature of offence-related trauma and the application of the standard EMDR protocol for a single traumatic event are considered.     

Public disclosure: Sex offenders' perceptions of the pilot scheme in England. Compliance,legitimacy and living a “Good Life”

Abstract

In 2008–09 four police forces in England piloted a scheme requiring disclosure of information about registered sex offenders (RSOs) to members of the public meeting certain eligibility criteria. Drawing upon data gathered during the evaluation of the pilot, this paper explores the offenders' perceptions of the scheme. In particular, the paper explores RSOs' perceptions of fairness and legitimacy of public disclosure and how these may impact upon their compliance. The RSO interviews also provided limited but informative evidence on the ways in which RSOs manage their lives in the community, and the potential for public disclosure to both hinder and reinforce the living of a “Good Life”.     

Geographical access to treatment for sex offenders under community supervision in Kentucky

Abstract

As sex offenders are probated or paroled into the community, sex offender treatment and monitoring is often a condition of their release. In Kentucky, sex offenders are required to participate in community-based treatment for two years or more. However, some sex offenders are disadvantaged in accessing mandated treatment. This is a result of decisions concerning the placement of treatment programmes, the sex offenders' preference to return to communities where they can rely on family and other indigenous support networks, and some statutes (e.g. sex offender registration and residency restriction laws). This study utilises spatial methodologies, including an origin–destination (OD) matrix, to determine the time, in minutes, that sex offenders travel to sex offender treatment providers and non-spatial ordinary least squares (OLS) regression techniques to determine the association between family, neighbourhood and community characteristics on sex offenders’ travel time to treatment. Findings suggest that there is substantial disadvantage in treatment access, measured by travel time, for sex offenders who live in impoverished rural communities.     

Ever-increasing circles: A descriptive study of Hampshire and Thames Valley Circles of Support and Accountability 2002–09

Abstract

This paper gives a history of Hampshire and Thames Valley (HTV) Circles, an organisation which recruits, trains and supports volunteer members of the public who are formed into small groups meeting weekly to provide support and monitoring of post-conviction sex offenders (Core Members) in the community. It describes the origins of Circles of Support and Accountability in Canada and gives an account of its implementation in the UK and a summary of the findings of the previous study of the first 16 HTV Circles Core Members in 2006 and some discussion about the challenges inherent in evaluating this kind of community-based and volunteer-led intervention. It describes demographic data on 60 Core Members followed-up for an average period of 36.2 months, including offence and sentence category, treatment history and statistically assessed risk of reconviction. It provides evidence of progress by these Core Members across a range of dynamic risk factors, as well as information on sexual reconviction, recall to prison and dropout from Circles. Three case studies provide details of Circles practice in community risk management of sex offenders. The paper discusses proposed areas of further research into Circles work, as well as the development of new techniques for measuring and managing dynamic risk factors displayed by Core Members in the community.